The Skeleton in the Duffflebag (One-shot)
by throwaway101
Summary: When the 501st feel something is off with Mio, they investigate. What they discover is a secret the Major had wanted to keep in the past. How will they react?


Note: Hello! This fic was inspired by one from YuriKohai, so please go check them out. I know that this fic is pretty dark, and I hope I portrayed everything well. Writing isn't my forte but I was hoping to give it a shot. Anyways, I hope you enjoy the story.

* * *

Mio was off lately. Everyone could sense it. Perrine was the first to notice, but when she expressed her concern, everyone laughed. Perrine was infatuated with the Major, so obviously she must be too worried. However, after a few days passed, people realized she had a point. The Major was waking up later than usual. She wasn't talking as much, and every smile seemed forced. Everyone's worry peaked when she didn't show up for training one day.

It was strange how Minna was the only one who didn't seem worried. She reassured everyone that things were fine and told them not to worry.

However, they couldn't not worry when they noticed all the small signs that something was off.

Such as how she always seemed on guard, her eyes flitting back and forth. She was tensed up, as if waiting for something to happen. She had trouble keeping up conversations and just seemed to not want to talk.

Oh, and the fact that she missed another day of training was super suspicious.

So, the rest of the 501st took it upon themselves to investigate.

"Do you think there's actually anything wrong? Maybe Commander Minna is right and we're just overthinking it," Lucchini asked.

"Personally, I think Minna's hiding something," commented Erica.

"Don't say that! Why would Minna hide anything from us?," Barkhorn chastised. How could Erica say something like that?

"I hate to say it, but it's possible," said Shirley, "It may just be something difficult to share, so hiding whatever's going on must have seemed like the best solution to her."

Barkhorn sighed. She hated how Shirley had a point. God, she was prayed that Shirley was wrong.

They finally reached their destination. Mio's room was separate from the other rooms in the castle, so they had to walk more to get there. Miyafuji knocked softly on the door.

"Hello? Sakamoto-san are you in there?"

No response.

Shirley moved forward and opened the door slowly. Everyone was quiet. They were pretty sure this was punishable, but their concern and curiosity pushed those thoughts to the side. Barkhorn actually nearly threw a fit when she heard their plan, but decided to come to make sure Erica didn't do something stupid. The only people missing other than their two superiors were Sanya and Eila. Sanya was exhausted from a night-shift so Eila was staying with her.

They all looked around the room. It was pretty normal, there was a futon, a nightstand on the right side, and the sword-stand on the left. The sword itself was missing, as Mio always had it on hand in case the Neuroi alarm was set off.

There was one closet opposite the bed, but other than that, it was ordinary.

The 501st (at least, the 7 of them that were there) started roaming and checking things out. Shirley opened the closet, to find nothing but a duffle bag, training clothes, a spare uniform, and two spare swimsuits.

They checked the nightstand, but the drawers had nothing but a pen, a few envelopes, and paper.

"Nothing," said Shirley with an exasperated sigh, "I guess the commander was right. Let's go before Sakamoto comes back."

"Wait," Erica said. They all looked at her, but there seemed to be a lightbulb above her head, "She may not have skeletons in her closet, but what about in her duffle bag?"

"Erica, that's stupid, let's go," Trude sighed. She reached her hand to grab the blonde, but she swiftly dodged and ran up the closet. She opened it up and started rummaging in the duffle bag.

"ERICA," Barkhorn hissed. Dear God she was going to get kicked out of the military for this. You don't just rummage in your superior's things.

Right as she was about to start yelling though, the blond ace pulled out a brown shoe box. That was weird. The Major's extra shoes were right next to her bed. Why keep the box in a duffle bag?

Erica opened up the box and Trude and Perrine both nearly flipped their shit, until orange bottles were pulled out.

"Medication?" Erica said quietly. The bottles were empty, but they still had the labels on them.

"Let me take a look," said Miyafuji. This was the first time she had spoken the whole trip, "Maybe I can identify what they are."

Hartmann handed the box to Miyafuji, who looked at them. Creases formed on her forehead as she examined them.

"There are six bottles, two for each type of medicine," she explained, "The first is Adderall. It's used to treat concentration problems. The other two are Prozac and Nardil. They are used….to treat anxiety and depression. But I don't understand why….."

"Maybe that's why she's been off lately. If they've run out, she must be experiencing everything they were stopping," Trude deduced.

"But why would she need them in the first place?" Lynnette asked.

However, just as she finished asking the question, the door opened. Lo and behold, the raven-haired samurai spotted them immediately. She looked over at them in surprise.

"What are you—"

She spotted the box of bottles, and her face transformed from one of surprise to horror. She looked at them, and they saw something in her eyes they never expected:

Fear.

Her eyes darted between them and the box, and then in another moment of unexpected events, she surprised them all again.

She ran off.

Mio's head was spinning in a whirlwind of thoughts. Oh God, they knew. They had found out, they'd ridicule her. Fuck. Dammit. She ran to the one person who could help her now. The one person who knew everything. Minna.

The 501st stood there stunned for a moment before Miyafuji spoke up.

"What are we standing here for?" She put the box down, "We need to find her and apologize. We violated her privacy, and that's our fault. We can ask for an explanation later."

Everyone was stunned at Miyafuji's instructions, but they realized she was right and they set out in search of their superior.

An hour of searching yielded no results. They checked the beach, the hangar, the bath, the forest, and then they decided to finally check the common room.

While they didn't find Mio, they found some else: Minna. On the couches were Eila and Sanya, looking slightly confused.

"Sit down," the red-head instructed. They complied, expecting to be chastised, lectured, and punished. However, they, for the third or fourth time today, were met with a surprise.

"I'm sorry."

They sat there as her words bumped around in their heads. Trude opened her mouth to speak but Minna silenced her with a raised hand.

"I should be apologizing to you. I tried keeping information from you to respect Mio's privacy, but I should have realized something like this would happen. I'm going to explain everything to a certain extent, and details will be left to Mio. She is currently in my room. She had a panic attack, but don't worry, she's fine now, so I'll just start explaining."

She looked around to make sure she had everyone's attention, then started speaking again.

"Mio has anxiety and depression, as I think you've all figured out by now. She chose those medications because they had the least side effects for her, and she is allowed into the military because she went through tests proving she could fight with the medication. I usually make order's for her medication, but I accidentally forgot so they ran out before she could get more. That's why you've seen her acting differently."

"She had to start taking them at a young age. This all started before she had her powers. She was taken to a base near her because her Kendo teacher was showing students around in case they become witches. At one point, two mechanics pulled her aside asking for help with something. They took her away from the base to some other building where no one would see them. You can guess what happened next."

Minna looked solemnly at the 501st. They all looked so distressed.

"They took her to another place and raped her, and tied her to the bed so she couldn't escape."

Perrine and Miyafuji made a choking sound and Trude balled up her fists in a rage. They could barely comprehend anything that Minna had told them.

"When her teacher realized she was missing, she informed the police who searched the area. They questioned people and they informed them of screams they had heard from a specific building. The police raided the building that night and found her. They arrested the two men, and they were sentenced to life in prison."

The 501st were relieved that the men had been punished, but they were still horrified. No wonder the Major was taking that medication, she must have been traumatized to no end.

"How….how old was she?" Miyafuj asked. It was a painful question, but she needed to know.

Minna looked at the 501st sadly.

"It would have been three months before she turned nine."

* * *

Mio sat on the bed. She was thinking rapidly, thoughts being fired at the speed of light, rushing through her head.

What would the 501st do? Minna had sat with her when she rushed into the office, panicking and sputtering words filled with fear. The red-head waited until the samurai calmed down, until the shaking stopped, and held her until her sobs died down to sniffles.

She took the Major to her room and set her on the bed. Minna informed her that she would be telling the 501st the basic story. Mio nodded, although she wanted to scream no.

How would they react? What would they do? What would they think?

Would they be like those girls who called her a whore or a slut when they found out?

She stayed in bed for half-an-hour before Minna knocked on the door, jolting her out of her thoughts.

The red-head smiled softly.

"I told them what happened, and they want to talk to you."

* * *

Walking to the common room seemed like one of the most stressful things she had done in her life. Time slowed down and she could see alternate possibilities of events unfolding right in front of her, none of them good.

Then she made it and saw the faces of the 501st staring at her. Nobody moved for a full five seconds. The silence in the room could have killed and Mio was pretty sure everyone could hear the sound of her panicked heart.

Then Miyafuji got up, walked to the Major with the most determined face she had ever seen, and then engulfed her in a hug. Mio's social skills nearly went down the drain in shock. She definitely hadn't been expecting this.

Suddenly remembering how to function in society, she wrapped her arms around Miyafuji to return the hug. She stayed like that for a bit before they both let go. Miayfuji looked up at Mio.

"Sakamoto-san, we're really sorry that we went through your stuff. We should have respected you and your privacy."

Mio looked up and saw the rest of the 501st nod their heads in agreement. She smiled, and it was probably the most genuine smile she had given in a week.

"It's fine, and to be honest, I guess it was for the better, I feel like a weight has been lifted off my chest. I think you deserve an explanation."

Mio sat down but Perrine spoke up.

"You don't have to if you don't want to."

Mio smiled.

"It's fine, really," Mio took and a deep breath and then let out a sigh, "I don't know how much Minna told you, so I'll just tell you everything. When I was around 8, soon turning 9, my sensei took the class to the base she worked out, because she knew that most of us would end up being witches. While there, two men who seemed pretty nice pulled me aside, saying they needed me to help get a spare part for maintenance. I was small and they were authority, so I listened to them."

"They said there was a building half a mile away, so as I was walking one of them grabbed me and started going in a different direction. I realised something was wrong and that they were bad, so I screamed. They taped my mouth shut, bound my hands with rope, and put a bag over my head. I wasn't able to do anything. They picked the perfect place because it was so empty at that time, no one would hear me there. He held me there, and a minute later the other one came back with a big bag and stuffed me in it. They threatened to kill me if I made a sound, so I listened to them. They carried me to a small building and locked the door."

"I remember, um, being thrown on the bed before they untied me. I was struggling to breathe because the bag was so stuffy, so they untaped my mouth."

Mio's face started turning red, and her eyes teared up. Her jaw muscles were clenched tightly.

"One of them pinned me down from my arms and, um, the…the other took off his clothes," her voice started cracking, "Then, um...ugh, fuck, God, um….he t-tore off my c-clothes… and d-did it."

She was rubbing her face and shaking. She had started crying, tears streaming down her face one by one, using her sleeve to wipe them away, trying to will herself to make them stop. The 501st realized they were seeing the face of the younger Mio who had suffered all those years ago.

"They t-took turns, and…no matter how much I tried, they never listened. They never s-s-topped. At one point… he, punched me and knocked me out."

"When I w-woke up, he was ,u-um, f-finishing. He got rope and tied me to the bed post so I couldn't go anywhere," she sighed, much shakier than before, "I passed out from exhaustion. When I woke up I heard screaming and someone knocked the door down. Some of the witches had come along with police searching for me. When they saw me, they untied my wrists and wrapped me in a blanket. They carried me to an ambulance where I passed out again."

"I woke up in the hospital with my sensei looking at me. I don't know why, but I just started crying again, and she stayed with me the whole time. She got me a therapist who diagnosed me with anxiety and depression and they gave me the medication that helped."

Mio's eyes were red, her eyelashes soaked with tears. She was shaking and fidgeting with her hands. She seemed exhausted.

"Why didn't you tell us though? We would never have judged you for something like this," Miyafuji said. The rest of the 501st nodded in agreement.

"A few years later, after I had gotten my powers, I was training at the base. Sensei always explained to the others the circumstances behind my conditions. I got along with everyone just fine and I thought they weren't judging me. While my closest friends were always Wakamoto and Junko, I had no problems with the others."

"But one day, I was walking around and I spotted these two girls. I liked them and they seemed nice, so I went to talk with them. They didn't spot me because their backs were facing me. As I got closer I heard what they said."

Mio looked down, miserable, remembering the words she had heard.

 _"Can you believe the bitch Sakamoto?"_

 _"Ya! I mean, what a slut. I can't believe they expect us to feel bad for her."_

 _"How on earth should we feel bad for a whore?"_

"I really believed them, and I went to my Sensei to ask her if I was a whore. She was so furious. Those girls were apparently not meeting expectations and were going to be kicked off. Sensei told me that they were just jealous that I was improving and that they were doing badly. To be honest, I don't know if I believe that."

"But either way, that got them kicked off because it showed betrayal of a comrade or something. But after that, I never wanted to hear those things. So I never told anyone, took all my medication in secret, and made sure that my Sensei stopped telling people."

"It became a habit, and this is the first time in seven years where people other than my superiors have known about what happened."

It seemed Mio had calmed down, and silence filled the room.

"Well," said Perrine, "I don't think you'll have to take your medication in secret anymore."

"Thank you, Perrine."

"We're a team here," said Minna, "We support each other no matter what."

It was time for Mio to be surprised, because they all stood up, and one by one, they gave her a hug.

"Thank you, all of you," Mio said with a smile. Then she frowned again.

"I think you should know though, that tomorrow is going to be a bad day for me," she said. Mio looked up at the 501st, who were confused.

"Tomorrow marks 12 years since the incident," she explained. Their eyes all widened, "and since I don't have my medication-"

"It's fine," Miyafuji said, smiling, "We'll be here to help."

The 501st nodded in agreement, and Mio smiled.

It looked like things would be easier from here on out.

* * *

Note: Thank you for reading! I hope it wasn't too bad and I hope you enjoyed the fic.


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